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Apple vs Facebook vs. Privacy

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Apple CEO Tim Cook says there should be a law against a company making a profit on abducting private information from users. Hey, it’s a business model; Facebook’s specifically, and kicking a company while it’s down is fair play. Apple’s five pages of privacy policies says plenty about what the company does with customer information and that contrasts sharply with Facebook and Google, but it also says something about who can afford privacy.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg:

Privacy is for the rich.

Alright, in fairness to full disclosure, Zuckerberg didn’t say that. Bryan Chaffin did as he distilled Zuckerberg’s comments which were birthed from Tim Cook’s comments which were birthed from Facebook’s privacy policy woes.

Can you follow that?

Here’s what Chaffin italicized from Zuckerberg’s comments:

The reality here is that if you want to build a service that helps connect everyone in the world, then there are a lot of people who can’t afford to pay.

It’s well known that Apple charges a premium for its products and treats customers far better than Google or Facebook treat their users. Especially when it comes to private information. Apple may collect plenty of private information. It has about a billion customers. But it doesn’t use that private information the same way, and certainly not for profit by selling said private information.

Still, if you want more privacy in today’s age of high tech products, who you gonna call? Apple. And that means you pay more money, so Chaffin’s headline of “Privacy is for the rich” is kinda sorta mostly true.

Zuckerberg again:

To the contrary, I think it’s important that we don’t all get Stockholm syndrome and let the companies that work hard to charge you more convince you that they actually care more about you.

There’s an argument in there somewhere. It may be hypothetically true and or factually true that a company that charges more money for a product than a competitor may not actually care about you, but it’s unlikely.

Google sells Pixel smartphones and talking stalking speakers but have you ever talked to a Google employee? Facebook has over 2-billion human users but have you ever talked to a Facebook employee? Since there is no exchange of money between users and Google or Facebook, their incentive to treat you the same way Apple treats you when you walk into an Apple Store is not the same.

Apple treats you better because money is involved. Facebook, Google, and others who take private information from you and use it for their profit changes the relationship. They cannot afford to treat their users the way Apple treats their own customers.

Chaffin is on to something with “Privacy is for the rich.” You need more money than most to buy, own, and use Apple’s products. That’s not the case with Facebook, Google, et al. But if you’re rich, and you want more privacy, you’re not likely going to be using Facebook or Google yourself anyway.

Chaffin:

Mark Zuckerberg was too young to have learned the difference between what he could do and what he should do when Facebook exploded.

Ipso facto and alakazam– Facebook did whatever it could to increase engagement, privacy concerns be damned. Apple’s approach to a customer relationship and their private information is different, but it still looks as if privacy is the domain of people with more money.

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